Глава 11

A specter! Speeec-teeer! First you run over to those steps, and then fall down, and <i>then</i> you say that!

Who's that running around the doorway here?

Ralph, Anna, you little pair of mischief-makers—

It's Miss Molly...

We were just getting to the most fun part! Anna, quick, get on the steps, we're going to do the hanging!

Hanging... hanging?!

Who taught you children such a cruel game?

It's how the grown-ups in Slantwards Alley play.

Slantwards Alley... there's all manners there. Did you watch some kind of silly show? Who took you to see?

Tom the cobbler.

He was drinking a lot of yellow stuff, and it was all dripping off his face. And then he ran up on stage while they were up there, and he was yelling and screaming 'I won't let you disgrace His Majesty the King, he was a great among greats.'

That bloody Tom! No, that's no language to use in front of children... Oh, what's he thinking, taking children to a pub?!

Let's keep going, Anna. I want to play one more time before supper.

Then it's your turn to be the one that dies! Ralph, you promised! You can't fib!

Oh, Your Majesty... pardon these children for disrespecting you.

They've never seen you, nor heard your voice before. All they know are rumors of you from all the city's gossip peddlers.

Miss Molly, you've never seen the King before either! You don't get to be all hoity-toity with us!

Come on, run, Anna, I'm chasing you—

Out of the way, t... traitor! Sooner or later, you'll all be torn apart by the beasts within!

Children, this is hardly proper of you.

If you don't want punishment, you'd best cut that out. <i>Never</i> let any of the clergy or teachers see...

See what?

Oh, good, Lady Golding!

Ralph, why are you so flushed?

Um, 'cuz... 'cuz...

We're playing a game, ma'am. It's really fun.

A game?

Very well, I understand. Return to your bedrooms soon, and don't forget to do today's homework.

Yes, ma'am.

Additionally, Ralph, Molly may only be older than the two of you by a few years, but she is still your teacher.

Yes, ma'am. Sorry, Miss Molly—

Alright, alright, listen to the ma'am now. Off you go.

I can't believe you didn't scold the two of them.

Ralph and Anna? I don't blame them.

The children just don't understand what cruelty is yet.

They have an innate desire to learn. If they can't learn anything proper from books or ourselves, it's only natural they'll turn to other places.

They... so many say that hanging transformed Victoria. Lady Golding, do you agree?

Ask the same question to different people, and you'll only get different answers.

The machines of Highbury's munitions factories certainly never ceased to whir, but the grand houses of Auchterigg have had many a change in ownership.

While all I know is that these poor children still come in droves to our school each year, bless their hearts. They're in need of help, much as I was twenty years ago.

I thank the school. If it hadn't lodged me, I would have long died of some illness or other.

Molly, what happened just earlier gave me an idea.

An idea... You're mean, the sets of plays you're holding?

Indeed.

So they're meant for the children. But they've only just learned to read. Won't it be a little too soon?

Better this than all the showy, slipshod stuff in Slantwards Alley.

For young children, acting others' roles is tantamount to a game. The complex implications might escape them for now, but at least they can get a little taste of the emotion and power within the words for themselves.

I do hope you're right.

It comes with another upside too, no? The children won't be nodding off in my literature classes anymore.

Haha, I suppose so. What matters to me is that we can use up just a little of their energy—it'll be a great relief for me!

Excuse me, madams, bookshop's closing in advance.

Mr. Adams? You're quite early to shut today.

Haven't you heard yet, ma'am? There was a disturbance at the Duke's office in Camden this morning.

Disturbance? What kind of disturbance is it to affect Auchterigg? It's quite a ways away.

One of the office admins got beat to death. Duke of Stafford's nephew, apparently. Only just rocked up in Londinium a week ago.

...Oh, rest his soul. Have the police caught the murderer yet?

That's the problem.

Witnesses say the suspect scarpered into a Defense Force barracks.

Seal the street! Move! Don't let him get away!

All eyes out—

And now he's fled into Auchterigg? Really?

Hard to say, ma'am. Probably not that simple.

How strange. <i>Are</i> these the Defense Force's men? My eyes might just be playing tricks, but their uniform seems a little different to what I remember...

I've got a friend who lives in Camden, ma'am. He says there's soldiers just flooding the street nearby, all of them wearing that uniform.

There's even word that... well...

A duke secretly slipped into Londinium just yesterday!

How, though? Wasn't that prohibited by law?

Thank you, Mr. Adams. These books are too heavy; I'll pick them up next time.

Molly. Back to the school, as quick as we can.

No one? Didn't they say they saw someone hiding in the alley?

We can't let word of the Duke spread in the city! If we do, our entire operation today's... ugh, damn and blast!

Didn't even see if it was a man or a woman. What the hell are these intelligence agents doing in their bloody Londinium offices?

Good-for-nothings! Got the Duchy's people running circles around them!

Lucky I just landed a bolt—

Keep up the chase! They can't have gotten far!

Wait—

Lady Golding? Did you see something?

Nothing urgent.

Molly, you go back to the school for now. Gather all the children, and make sure they don't stray out into the streets.

What about you?

I'm going to see a friend. Prepare some hot water and a clean towel in the office for me; I'll be back as soon as I can.

Rrmph... *pant*...

Sorry, bear with me. School things are fairly rudimentary—more often we have children falling over while making a racket. Not so much being shot by soldiers' crossbows.

Who knew... you could sew up wounds.

With the scant yearly donations to the school, we can't afford to hire that many staff. I have to moonlight as the school nurse a lot of the time.

Urrrgh... ow...

After seeing you move so silently on the street, I wasn't imagining you would feel the pain.

Oh, don't jest with me... you're the only one in all of Londinium who I can truly catch my breath with.

I can suture your wound, Heidi, but I can't disinfect it. You'd best be off to a hospital straight away.

I don't think so.

Can you tell me why?

I thought we were friends.

Golding, I shouldn't have come here with you in the first place. I haven't wanted to pull you or the children into all the mess.

So the soldiers <i>are</i> after you. Are they really the Duke of Stafford's men?

Did Adams tell you that...? I thought he would keep mum.

He's your friend, and mine as well. He was the one holding the book club we met each other at, and don't you forget that.

Ha, ha. Could I ever?

You were a <i>ruthless</i> one then.

'A fast-food work of pop-culture subservience.'—'Its only use is fueling chatter between ladies of the house and girls at teatime.' Your words for my newest work.

But I did say that the author's talent lay far beyond.